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Technology and Academic Honesty Study

This study was conducted to determine ways to catch students cheating during their

online closed-book exams (Oeding 2022). During this study, data was collected on 164

introductory business undergraduates over 2 years. The students were given the same pool of

true/false and multiple-choice questions. This study was determined to uncover evidence that

would help to identify academic dishonesty for future courses. They analyzed conduct for

“yellow flags”, identified cheating conduct for “red flags”, and created suggestions for catching

academic dishonesty for instructors (Oeding 2022).

To conduct this study, researchers analyzed video and sound recordings of the

participants while they took their exam through a program that automatically captured suspicious

behaviors. When the proctor was alerted to the “yellow” and “red” flag behaviors, they watched

the clips and determined any academic dishonesty as well as recorded knowing behaviors the

participants engaged in (Oeding 2022).

Of the 164 students studied, 26 were determined to be academically dishonest students

and all had telling consistent behaviors. The researchers were able to compile a list of flags for

future proctors. The most important is eye movement because students trying to cheat were

scanning the room before and during the exam. They would always read the questions, look

away read something on the walls or somewhere else, and then answer the question. Other tell-

tale signs are noises from paper rustling, loud noises to mask sounds of cheating, talking to

others, and eating (Oeding 2022).

I believe this study is important to help protect academic integrity. In this study, the

researcher admits to not being vigilant during the first semester because they believed that the

cameras would deter students from cheating. Little did they know at the time, most of the
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cheating was blatantly obvious and that students were not concerned with the camera (Oeding

2022). One tip I would take away would be to create an academic honesty contract before the

exam that also warns them about violating that contract. Another tip would be to create an open-

book application-type exam that would help discourage dishonesty.

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References

Oeding, J. M. (2022). The Prevention and Detection of Academic Dishonesty: Watch the online

exam proctoring videos. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 23(1), 79–89.

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